The hosts of Stuff You Should Know, the second-most popular podcast in the world, prefer to be thought of as researchers. It’s a strategic choice.

“I think one of the things that has allowed us to make it through to almost 1,000 episodes is, from the get-go, we have made clear that we’re not experts in anything, that we’re just researchers,” said Clark. “People like to take down experts, take them down a peg, and the fact that we’ve never purported to be experts really helps us a lot.”

But at this point, one has to consider them podcasting experts at the very least. The duo, who will be hosting a live podcast at Vancouver’s Vogue Theatre on Tuesday, have been manning the microphones for their informative show for almost a decade now, long before podcasts were the cultural force they’ve since become.

“Originally, Stuff You Should Know was meant to be this way to taking all these amazing articles that were just kinda sitting there on How Stuff Works and getting them out to people who didn’t necessarily sit around and read articles on the web all day,” said Clark. “It just kinda took off from there.”

Nearly 1,000 podcasts later, Josh and Chuck find themselves elder statesmen of a medium whose popularity continues to grow at a surprising rate. The non-experts have an explanation for that.

“I think it made sense to me because on-demand entertainment has become such a ingrained part of our lives these days,” said Bryant. “We’re so used to being able to queue up whatever television show or movie and stream it whenever we want. (Podcasting) felt like an extension of that.”

But where movies and television require your complete attention, podcasts do not, which is another part of their success. People are busy. Podcasts can be consumed on the go.

“The modern podcast listener — which is to say all podcast listeners — I think generally consume while they’re doing things. While they’re jogging, while they’re on the treadmill, while they’re commuting, while they’re cleaning their house,” said Bryant. “It’s a great way to learn something or have a laugh, depending on what kind of podcast you like. It’s a great way to ingest content.”

As for the success of Stuff You Should Know specifically, much of it can be attributed to Josh and Chuck’s uncanny chemistry, something they’re loath to overanalyze.

“We have this certain kind of chemistry that is greater than the sum of its parts,” said Clark. “When you put me and Chuck together in a room and get us to start talking, I think it’s just something bigger than either one of us are fully aware of. (We) have this chemistry that you can’t put your finger on.”

Bryant echoed that, saying the pair tries not to think too much about it. They simply met at work, and it worked.

“I think it’s a bit of a magical thing that happened.”

Thanks to that magic, Josh and Chuck now find themselves nearing their milestone 1,000th episode, and selling out massive venues as fans flock to see the duo record the show live.

Their show at the Vogue will be a return, of sorts, to where it all began. Stuff You Should Know’s first four live shows ever were recorded in Toronto and Vancouver, and the Canadian crowd gave them a rock star’s reception.

“The idea that we sold out all of our first four shows in Canada was really great. We made a T-shirt and it said ‘World Tour.’ We were pretty proud of it.”

Vancouver will feature in an upcoming episode of Stuff You Should Know as well. Josh and Chuck were hesitant to say too much, for fear of spoiling the surprise, but it’s about nude beaches.

“We talked about Wreck Beach in it,” said Clark. “It was just like one more cool thing about a very cool town. I had no idea about Wreck Beach until I did the research. The more I read about it, the cooler it sounded.”

Asked to provide advice for aspiring podcasters, which seemingly everyone is these days, Clark offered three tips: invest in good microphones and software, pick a topic you love, and be prolific in your output.

“One of the things that we think had made us successful is releasing on a regular schedule, so people know when to expect it and look forward to it,” he said.

“We’ve never missed a publish date, which is a point of pride for us.”

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